Saturday

Man convicted in Stark County case will not face more charges of rape, sexual battery and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and sexual imposition in Tuscarawas County at this time.

NEW PHILADELPHIA Tuscarawas County officials have dropped prosecution of a child rape charge against a former Port Washington resident who is serving two life prison sentences for raping a 9-year-old Massillon girl in 2016.

The local case against 47-year-old Dennis L. Menefee has been dismissed without prejudice — meaning it could be filed again — due to the unavailability of the victim and a witness, according to assistant county prosecutor Scott Deedrick.

"We were unable after extensive efforts to secure the cooperation of the victim and a key witness in the prosecution of the case," Deedrick wrote in an e-mail to The Times-Reporter. "The reason for this appears to be that they were aware that (Menefee) received a life sentence in Stark County and they did not believe there was any benefit of substantially disrupting their lives if there would be no impact upon the defendant if convicted sentence wise."

Menefee, who is currently incarcerated at the Belmont Correctional Institution, was sentenced to two life prison terms with no chance of parole in the Massillon case.

He had been indicted in Tuscarawas County on charges of rape, sexual battery, unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and sexual imposition. The case involved an alleged offense against a 15-year-old in the Port Washington area in 2015, according to Deedrick.

Menefee’s criminal history includes a 1999 guilty plea to manslaughter in Wyoming. He picked up a woman in his truck that January, drove her to a remote location, and sexually assaulted her before forcing her from the truck in 30-degrees-below-zero weather, causing her to die of hypothermia, according to court records.